If you have made the choice to start a business, register the domain for the foreseeable future. First time registration is usually the lowest cost you will pay, and by registering for 3-5 years upfront at that rate you will save money in the long run. It will also spare you the annual hassle of having to renew the domain and updating your credit card information when it changes.

The WHOIS database was once much, much more accessible. Still today if you register a domain any information you provide such as telephone, address, email and name will be publicly visible by default. By paying the additional privacy protection fee the registrar will hide your information. This prevents a high volume of spam emails, phone calls, snail mail, social engineering and phishing attacks. If your domain name is related to a particular niche, then you may find success by advertising in forums that are related to that niche. Simply placing a link in the signature of your posts can tremendously speed up the selling process. While it may be possible to find prospective webmasters on niche-specific forums, it is generally better to advertise on webmaster forums, where there is a high volume of potential customers. Most auction sites will be heavy with competition, and many of the domains for sale also include a full pre-constructed web site that may already be generating a profit. Before listing your domain for sale, it is important to ensure that you're not stepping into a market that is saturated with full website and domain packages.